Spanish brewer eyes Brazilian market

La Coruna (Spain), Dec 20 (IANS/EFE) Brewer Hijos de Rivera is studying the possibility of producing its Estrella Galicia beer in Brazil, a move that would mark the first time that the beverage is made outside the firm's brewery in the northwestern Spanish city of La Coruna, executives said Wednesday.

The plan being discussed calls for leasing a brewery in Brazil in an effort to sell the brand in the South American country and gain a 1 percent share of the market, company executive Ignacio Rivera said in a press conference.

Hijos de Rivera opened its Estrella Galicia do Brasil unit in May with the goal of entering the Latin American market.

"We have entered a market with high hopes that has impressive consumption and we are going to try to consolidate ourselves in the premium segment, and we have refocused the company to do this," Rivera said.

Entering a market like Latin America is "complex" because it has "enormous competition", the executive said.

Rivera is a great-grandson of Jose Rivera Corral, who returned from Mexico and founded a brewery and ice plant in 1906.

Hijos de Rivera's expansion has led to one of every three litres produced by the company now being sold outside Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, Rivera said.